


Kiss You Instead

by JoMouse



Series: Claudia's Puntastic Life [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Cookies, Christmas Fluff, Don't copy to another site, Kid Fic, M/M, Puns & Word Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 18:55:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21993322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoMouse/pseuds/JoMouse
Summary: Derek has been invited to join Stiles and his pun-loving daughter, Claudia, for Christmas cookies and present wrapping.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Claudia's Puntastic Life [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1583203
Comments: 19
Kudos: 198





	Kiss You Instead

**Author's Note:**

> Merry belated Christmas. 
> 
> I had hoped to have this written for 12 Days of Sterek, but between my other Sterek fics and my yearly Ziam fic, it didn't happen. Then I'd planned to post it Christmas Day and my muse decided that wasn't going to happen.
> 
> So, here it is, two days late and hopefully not unwelcome.
> 
> Have a wonderful rest of your holiday season!!!
> 
> ETA: Big big thanks to my betas [Marie](http://quietzap.tumblr.com) and Jenn for the super fast beta and my immense apologies for forgetting to add this in the first place.
> 
> xx-Joey
> 
> Don't know 'em. Don't own 'em. Don't show 'em.

The lights in the house were blinking when Derek climbed out of the SUV, crossing the lawn to the front door, smiling at the giggles and happy squeals coming from the other side of the door. He knocked on the door in warning before walking inside; he had his own key but since he didn't live there he always felt the need to at least announce his presence. The chaos revealed by the opening of the door didn't come as a surprise to Derek, it was the home of a grown-up spark and a half-wolf, half-spark child. 

The Christmas tree they'd found in the preserve and brought home the previous week was spinning slowly in its base, the lights blinking on each turn as the cord wound tighter and tighter around the trunk and if Derek hadn't hurried over to unplug it, would probably have either pulled itself over or unplugged itself. The tree continued to spin and he followed the giggles to find the source in the kitchen, sitting on the island, kicking her sock-clad feet. Derek narrowed his eyes at the ugly green toe socks with something metallic glued to the big toe of each foot. 

Before he could ask, Stiles ran into the kitchen, his normally brown hair whitened with flour and a streak of frosting on his cheek. Derek shook his head, laughing as Stiles scooped his daughter, Claudia, off the island and spun her in a circle, chastising her for the spinning Christmas tree, but his laughter taking the bite out of the admonishment. He was glad they were so lost in each other that he could observe them.

Two months ago on Halloween night, Claudia had come into his life with her curiosity, fearlessness, and pun-tastic Halloween costume. With her, she brought her father, the one true love of Derek's life, back into his own life. He'd been certain that he would never see Stiles again, but there he'd been. For the first time in years, they had talked and discovered a lot of misunderstandings had led to a longer separation than either of them had ever wanted.

It had taken some talking and confrontations, but around Thanksgiving, Derek had asked Stiles out on an official date. He'd been worried at first that Claudia wouldn't like him dating her father, but she had just shrugged when they'd asked her and said that if he made her father happy, then she was happy. The date had been going well, but Stiles had been distracted and as soon as dinner at the one nice Italian place in town was over, Derek suggested they go pick Claudia up from the Sheriff's house and take her to the movies with them. The grin Stiles had given him had been answer enough.

He must have made a sound because Claudia's head snapped up and she scented the air, her eyes glowing gold as she pushed away from her father, squealing, "Uncle Derek!" The metal on her toes clacked on the floor as she hurried across the floor, launching herself at Derek and throwing her arms around him and burying her face in his shoulder, scenting him. Derek returned the gesture, his eyes raising to meet Stiles' who was watching them, a fond smile on his face.

"Are you here for Christmas?" she asked and Derek nodded. "Will you be here when Santa comes?" Derek nodded again, hoping that without a verbal response his heart wouldn't stutter; he'd been working with Claudia on detecting heartbeats. "Help us make cookies?"

Derek laughed. "I think I'll leave that to you and your father," Derek said, putting her down and letting her pull him to the island where ingredients for cookies were set out alongside the tabletop mixer he'd helped Stiles pick out after he'd first bought the house in Beacon Hills. 

"I think," Stiles spoke up for the first time since Derek had arrived, "that Derek is a little too clean to help with cookies." He pressed a kiss to Derek's lips ignoring Claudia's giggles as Stiles ran his hands through Derek's hair.

Pulling back, Derek looked upwards and saw the streaks of flour left behind. Giving a playful growl, he chased Stiles around the island until Claudia leapt up and latched onto Derek's back, digging her heels into his side and urging him on like a pony. Laughing, he reached back a hand to steady her as he continued to chase Stiles out of the kitchen, past the still spinning Christmas tree and out the back door of the house, skidding to a stop when he saw the layer of white powder covering the grass.

"What?" he asked.

"Seems Ms. Claudia's having a power surge and she desperately wanted snow," Stiles told him.

Claudia was adopted, but somehow Stiles had managed to find a half-spark, half-wolf child and even he couldn't explain to Derek how it had happened. All he knew was that one day he'd been thinking about having a child and the next day the emissary for the pack in New York contacted him. The child had been left behind by a traveling omega and as they realized the child held a spark, they had contacted the only spark they knew, Stiles.

The girl had been just what Stiles needed and Derek couldn't help but wonder if his own spark had a hand in the uniting of the two of them. He'd told Derek how impressed he was by Claudia's control, so far she'd only seen her eyes glow on occasion and had yet to see a claw or fang outside of the full moon. Even though she wasn't Stiles' child by blood, she'd certainly gotten his personality so a snowstorm in California shouldn't be a surprise.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by something soft hitting him in the face. It wasn't cold like a snowball and when he scooped up a handful of the white powder he discovered it was flour, but when he tried to pack it like a snowball he found it formed just as easily. Laughing, he launched the ball at Stiles who dodged it with a flick of his wrist, sending it toward Claudia who ducked and rolled out of the way.

Once Claudia grew bored, she headed into the house, still giggling, leaving Derek and Stiles huffing for breath on their backs in the middle of the yard where Claudia had convinced them to make snow angels. "Her spark is getting stronger," Derek commented, blowing a handful of flour-snow at Stiles. 

"I may have helped a bit with this one," Stiles said, snapping his fingers and the yard becoming clear, although they were both still flour dusted. "She was missing the snow in New York."

"Yeah, snow in Central Park is pretty amazing," Derek said, pushing himself to his feet and then reaching for Stiles' hand and pulling him to stand until they were nose to nose. Grinning, Stiles leaned closer and pressed his lips to Derek's, a kiss he didn't hesitate to return.

A crash from inside the house caught both of their attention and broke the kiss. Stiles groaned as he dropped his forehead to Derek's chest. "Never a dull moment," he said before he headed into the house to check the damage.

Derek held back for a few moments, watching Stiles disappear before he dug into his pocket and pulled out the small velvet pouch he'd had hidden in the back of his dresser drawer for more years than he could remember. He started to open it to check the contents when Claudia appeared in the back doorway with her hands on her hips and reindeer antlers on her head. "Are you coming inside? It's almost time for hot chocolate and taste testing!"

Derek nodded and she headed back inside. He slipped the pouch back into his pocket and headed into the house. He'd been spending a lot of time at Stiles' house since they'd moved in, but when he'd been invited to be a part of the Christmas tradition of Christmas cookies and present wrapping, he'd choked on his acceptance. He knew that Stiles had told him he'd never stopped loving him and Claudia seemed to like him, but to be included in something that had always been a family thing said more than any other words ever could.

Moving into the house, he found the Christmas tree had stopped spinning and Claudia was kicked back on the couch with her feet on the coffee table, the silver tubes on her big toes tapping together as she kept her hands out in front of her making grabby hands. Peeking into the kitchen, he laughed when he saw Stiles wrestling with a Santa Claus shaped mug that kept jumping off the counter as he tried to fill it with hot chocolate.

Dropping down onto the couch next to Claudia, he reached out and covered her hands with his own, stilling their movements. Stiles let out a sigh of relief in the kitchen and Derek's grin was hard to hide. "Do you like torturing your father, pup?" he teased.

"Don't you?" she countered with a flash of her eyes.

He felt himself rising to the bait and instead of joining in with her verbal battle, something he wasn't completely ashamed to admit he'd lost in the past, he flicked a hand out to show off his claws. He'd been working with Claudia, at Stiles' request, on her control and so far she was able to keep the wolf at bay but wasn't able to call it forward when she wanted, aside of the flashing of her eyes.

Determined, she flicked her hand out but nothing happened and she growled low in her throat as she kept trying and he couldn't help but think that she reminded him a lot of Scott when he'd first been bitten. Grinning, he flicked his hand out and did it again. "Showoff," she muttered as she tried again and let out a cheer when her nails grew just a slight bit longer, barely noticeable but enough to count as a start. "I did it!" she shouted when Stiles came into the room carrying a tray laid with a plate of cookies and three mugs of hot chocolate and marshmallows.

"That's great," Stiles encouraged but his eyes flicked to Derek with question. Derek held his fingers less than a half-inch apart and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm so proud of you!" he said as he set the tray down on the coffee table before wrapping an arm around her and gave her a squeeze. 

Then he passed out the mugs and one cookie to each of them. Derek smiled and started to take a bite, jumping when Claudia shouted at him to stop and he had five tiny claws in his face. He crossed his eyes to look at them, the cookie falling out of his hand and into his lap. "You did it," he said and Claudia started giggling and flexed her hand until the claws disappeared.

Stiles' face was stern as he looked at his daughter. "While I'm very proud of you, young lady, you don't go shoving your claws in someone's face, especially while shouting at them. You're lucky Derek didn't attack you."

Her eyes grew wide and her lip pouted out as tears filled her eyes. "Uncle Derek wouldn't hurt me."

"You're both right," Derek said, glad that his control was strong enough that he didn't attack because it was his first instinct to protect those in the room with him. "I would never intentionally hurt you, but if you'd caught me off guard enough I might have attacked before I realized it was you." Her face twisted into a thoughtful expression and she nodded. "Now why did you yell at me?"

"You were going to eat the cookie!" 

He raised his eyebrows at her before lowering them at Stiles who was laughing. "Isn't that what cookies are for?"

"We have a tradition," Stiles explained. "We have to evaluate the appearance like we're on one of those fancy cooking shows before we can taste them." Derek shook his head, chuckling and Stiles frowned. "It was Claudia's idea."

"Somehow I doubt that," he said as Claudia gave an indignant shout. He nudged his shoulder into Stiles, trying to coax a smile out of him. "Why don't you start and show me how it's done?"

"Fine," Stiles said around an exaggerated sigh and picked up his sugar cookie. His was the shape of a star with blue icing piped along the edges and in a detailed design in the center. He held it up to eye level, tilting it and running his eyes over the entire thing. "The color is good, just a slight browning at the edges. The design work is good for an amateur with just a few heavy-handed areas."

Claudia held hers up, a snowman with a heavy layer of white frosting and blue ball sprinkles. She tilted it to the side like her father had, a few off the sprinkles rolling off and hitting the ground and Derek bit back a laugh. "Like Mr. Stilinski's," she started in a nasal voice that made Derek choke back another laugh, "the color is good, although there is a bit more darkening at the edges. The icing is very heavy-handed and there is a poor sprinkle to icing ratio."

"Those are some big words for a six-year-old," he whispered to Stiles who beamed like a proud father. "Guess it's my turn." He picked up the cookie and looked at it, smiling at the wolf shaped cooking with a thin layer of black icing and a blue ball sprinkle to an eye. In white icing, it said 'Derek' on the side. He had to take a breath and licked at his lips before he could form words.

"The color is very good." His words were choked and although Claudia looked concerned, Stiles did a great job of ignoring the emotions choking Derek. "Just the right even browning with a perfect icing design. Impressive dye mixing to get the shiny black color of the fur." He narrowed his eyes when Claudia giggled and Stiles let out an innocent whistle. "I suspect magic being used in the mixing of the dye."

"Now for the tasting!" Claudia said, shoving her entire snowman into her mouth. Derek looked at her horrified as she grinned around the mashed cookie bits. He looked to Stiles for help and saw he was doing the same thing with his snowflake. 

They both looked at him expectantly but before Derek could join in on the craziness, he pulled his phone out and snapped a photo of the cookie, not wanting to forget it and thinking that it would be a good lock screen, although that would mean taking down the photo of him and Claudia from Halloween so maybe it would just stay in his photo album. Once he was satisfied with the photo he shrugged and shoved the whole thing into his mouth and grinned at them, spitting out crumbs when they both started laughing and Stiles took a picture of him.

Once the cookies were washed down with cocoa, they were all laughing too hard to share their taste analysis, but Stiles assured him that it was normal that way. "So, does your dad normally do this with you?" he asked while they were wiping down the coffee table, the sound of Claudia's toes clacking along the wooden flooring around them as she danced to the Christmas music playing on the stereo. 

She'd donned her wings and halo from her Halloween costume and tried to climb the tree once already, but Derek had plucked her from the branches without causing too much damage to the branches. Then he challenged her to dance for as long as she could until she had to stop, claiming that it was an exercise in stamina. Now, he and Stiles were cleaning up and talking quietly.

"This is the first time anyone other than Claudia and I have been a part of cookie tasting," he said. "Dad normally wasn't in New York yet and this year we thought about inviting him, but Claudia wanted you here." He looked up through his lashes at Derek. "So did I."

"Thank you. I'm honored to be included in your traditions," he said, reaching out to cup Stiles' cheek and pull his face closer for a kiss, freezing when there was a loud crash from the corner of the room. Pressing his forehead against Stiles', he groaned. "We're going to open our eyes and see the tree on the floor, aren't we?"

"Wouldn't be Christmas without it happening at least once," Stiles responded, his laugh brushing over Derek's lips before he pulled away. "Didn't you question why everything on the tree is paper, plastic or edible?" He stood up and offered Derek his hand to pull him up with him.

They turned and saw the tree lying on its side and Claudia standing sheepishly next to it, her halo crooked and one wing bent at a haphazard angle. "It fell by itself?"

Shaking their heads, they moved as one to set the tree back upright. "I'm going to start calling you Claudi-Cat," Derek teased. "I've never seen anyone take a tree out like that except those crazy cat videos your dad used to drive me nuts with when we were younger."

"Hey! You loved those videos!" Stiles objected, straightening the string of cranberry and popcorn on the tree and giving Claudia a raised eyebrow as he held up a section that was just string and cranberries, the popcorn that they'd carefully counted and spaced out missing. 

Claudia giggled and climbed up Derek's side, her foot digging into the pocket of the jeans where the velvet pouch was stored. She didn't notice it, but it reminded him that it was there and he reached in to pat it as she perched on his shoulders. He glanced over at Stiles who was fixing ornaments and then startled when the weight on his shoulders suddenly disappeared. Glancing up, he saw Claudia in the exposed rafters of the room and had a moment of panic but she was moving carefully and he knew that if she fell he would catch her...or she would heal.

He turned his attention back to Stiles who was stretched up to steady the angel on top of the tree, his shirt rising up to expose his stomach and Derek couldn't help but wrap his arms around his stomach and pull him back into him. "Hey, sourwolf," Stiles said, patting his arm and tilting his head back to brush his nose against Derek's chin. "What do you want for Christmas?"

He smirked. "You," he said without hesitation. "And Claudia, but mostly you."

"Cheesywolf," Stiles told him, turning around in his arms. "You've already got us." Derek shook his head. "Sure you do. I know Claudia is new, but even when I was in New York, you still had me. I'm just sorry it took so long for us to come home."

"Before you left...before you told me you were leaving actually," Derek started, closing his eyes as Stiles pressed their foreheads together. "Before that, I bought something and I've had it with me since, but I want to give it to you now."

"Derek," Stiles started and he knew what he was probably thinking and a part of him wished that it was that, but he also knew that now wasn't the right time for that. 

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the velvet pouch. Looking over Stiles' shoulder, he opened it and reached inside to pull the item that had been there for years. The other item he'd added just that week was for Claudia and he'd give it to her later after he saw Stiles' reaction. Carefully, he brought his hand around and lifted it so it was on Stiles' eye level and then tilted his hand just enough for the chain to drop, the silver triskele hanging from it spinning slightly from the movement.

"I know that we're Scott's pack, but I want you to know that you're mine as well," Derek told him. "I know you'd never want to get a tattoo and I'm okay with that, but I had hoped you'd wear my family symbol."

Stiles blinked back tears and nodded, dipping his head so Derek could drape the chain over it and rest it on his neck. Stiles reached a hand up and laid it over the triskele, pressing it to his chest and whispered a few words. When he pulled his hand away and tugged down the neck of his shirt, a perfect tattoo of the triskele was on his chest. He grinned. "It's only for you and I to see," he told him as it faded from sight. Derek flashed his eyes and could still see it, his smile broadening as he pulled Stiles into a tighter hug.

"I've got a bracelet for Claudia," he said, blushing. "Do you think she'd want-"

"Yes!" Claudia called from above them. They looked up and saw her sitting on the rafter just above their heads, her stocking feet swinging back and forth, the light reflecting off the silver tubes.

"I've got to ask-" Derek started but Claudia cut him off by shouting, "You have to kiss!"

"And why is that?" he asked, looking up at her as Stiles started laughing and buried his face in Derek's chest, entire body shaking.

"Because you're under the missile-toes, silly!" she called out giggling and waving her feet in the air, the light blinking off the silver tubes that Derek finally identified as tinny missiles.

"Really?" Derek asked and Stiles nodded against his chest. "Her idea?" Another nod. "Your encouragement." That wasn't even a question. "What am I gonna do with you two ridiculous punsters?"

"Kiss him!" Claudia shouted, losing her balance and falling backwards off the rafter. Stepping backwards, Derek caught her in his arms between the two of them and Stiles squeezed her tight.

"How about we just kiss you instead?" Derek teased, pressing a kiss to one of her cheeks while Stiles took the other.


End file.
